A different time
by Gothicphoto
Summary: Ranma fell into the spring at a different time in his life. As a result, the encounter at the Amazon village went just a little differently. Warning Violence and death within.
1. Chapter 1

Ranma: Older

Disclaimer: Ranma and company are not mine, I don't claim ownership of the characters. They belong to other people who are by far richer than I am.

Disclaimer two: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, thus whatever I have her characters do is going to be out of character. If you want the characters to act in character then read her manga, anything out of the mangas or the animes is technically out of character.

On with the show:

"Pops, I should kill you for this." The young red headed girl named Ranma said venomously to the panda that was walking ahead of her on the path. The panda didn't acknowledge what she said, and instead focused on the back of their guide.

"Hey guide, you said these Amazons would have a cure for these curses, right?" The girl yelled at the portly china man leading them.

"Amazons know much about Josenkyo, they know what you look for."

While not satisfied with the answer, the girl didn't push it. It had been a full day of walking from josenkyo to where they were now. A full day going out of their way because of some horrible accident that they could have never have forseen. The life of a martial artist is fraught with peril, but this was ridiculous.

The bulk of the Amazons were gathered around a large log when the trio walked into the village. On it were a pair of Amazons fighting, showing an incredible degree of skill and balance. One of the fighters was a young girl who was dominating a huge gorilla of a woman to the pleasure of the crowd. This was lost on the panda, as he had managed to find empty seats at a table laden with food, and his stomach did the rest of the thinking for him.

The girl was watching the fight in progress and wasn't paying attention to the bear. She was giving a critical eye to the fighters on the log watching their moves, her assessment, she could take them. The younger one finally finished the fight, and was declared the winner. The look in her eyes as she looked over in the panda's direction said that the chance to prove that assessment would come soon.

Ranma looked over at the panda and groaned. "What have you done now, pops?"

The girl from the log started to yell at her in Mandarin, pointing vigorously at the panda and the table of eaten food.

"Yo! Guide! What's she saying?"

"She demanding you give panda customer to her for eating her prize."

There was still enough on the table to feed Ranma. She was seriously tempted to just agree to the girl's demands, but she had another idea.

"Hey guide, she's saying that pop's ate her food, right? So if I challenge her for the food, there won't be a problem, right?"

The guide shot off some rapid fire Mandarin at the girl who shot some back.

"She agree but you give panda if you lose."

"I can agree to those terms."

The fight took less than five minutes, the Amazon girl went down with one good kick from Ranma. Once he determined that she was down, Ranma hopped over to the table and started to help herself to the remainder of the winnings.

The felled girl regained her senses to realize that she had lost and approached the girl that had defeated her.

The small kiss surprised Ranma, considering where it came from and especially the reaction of the guide. He grabbed her and tried to run off with her, screaming about a kiss of death.

Ranma extracted herself from the guide's arms before he could get very far.

"You I kill." Came the lilting voice of the girl that Ranma had just defeated as well as the swish of air getting cut by a viscious sword swing that missed it's mark.

Ranma wasted no time to show how much she didn't like to be threatened to the poor girl. When she was done, Ranma held the Chinese girl in a submission hold with one of the girl's hidden knives at her throat.

"Guide, translate this for me…You've got about five seconds to explain yourself before I make good on your 'Kiss of Death' with one of my own." The small red head said with no small amount of venom.

The guide nervously translated what Ranma had said to the girl. She responded hesitantly, up until Ranma started to scratch her throat with the knife.

"She say it village law, when outsider female defeat Amazon, that Amazon hunt outsider female and kill."

Ranma stared at the guide as if he had grown a second head.

"You're kidding, right? I mean, that has got to be the stupidest thing I have heard of. I beat her, and now she has to kill me, just because I'm a girl?" Ranma released the hold on the girl and pushed her away.

"This has got to be one of the most dishonorable places I have ever been too, pops would love it here. Tell the little bitch I want to talk to her elders and if she doesn't want to be buried tonight, she'll keep her peace."

The Chinese girl looked ready to attack again until the guide started to speak again. Ranma took the knife she had taken and started to bend the blade into new and interesting shapes while staring directly into her eyes. She reluctantly went to get her elders.

Ranma looked around and couldn't find the panda anywhere.

A minute later, Ranma was facing the young girl again as well as a wizened midget on a staff with long white hair that nearly hit the floor.

"She is Khon Lon, matriarch of Amazon village." The guide provided.

"Elder Khon Lon, I bring grievances to you. This girl has lost to me in honorable combat and now seeks to kill me due to your laws, what is the meaning of this? Translate for me guide."

"That won't be necessary, child. I see no fault in what you have told me, it is the way things have been for thousands of years."

"You don't see any problems with that? I see quite a few problems with that. One, the terms were agreed to before hand, food or panda. No mention of death. Two, she couldn't defeat me before, how do you expect for her to kill me? Finally, I would hate to see your laws responsible for an international event."

"Who are you to challenge our laws, you impudent child? You are nothing to us."

"So you're going to push this through to the end? You want to see me dead for being better that her?"

Khon lon nods her head.

"What if I kill her first, before she has a chance to kill me, will I have to worry about more of you coming for me?"

"No child, if you kill Xian pu then you are free of the kiss."

"Then lets finish this while my food is still good, tell her I'll meet her at the log. I want your word as matriarch that if I win, then nothing will happen to me after wards. No death threats, no attempts at my life, nothing."

"I doubt that you'll survive, but I give my word."

The pair face off again at the log. Once the signal is given, Ranma waits for her opponent to close the gap before using the deadly Yamisuken to cleave Xian pu in two equal halves, showering the immediate area in blood. A blood soaked Ranma calmly makes her way to the shocked elder.

"I think it was time that you changed your rules, this could have been avoided."

Ranma picked up some of the choice foods on the table. She then picked up a still hot cup of tea and splashed her face with it to get some of the blood out. The shift in form does not go unnoticed by the crowd or the elder. Josenkyo is mentioned several times.

While the girl that was Ranma was youthful with bright red hair, the male Ranma was taller and noticeably older, his eyes spoke of past pains and love lost, as well as a deep sense of betrayal.


	2. Chapter 2

A different time Part two;

Disclaimers: These Characters aren't mine, don't sue me. These Characters are not mine, thus they are out of character.

"I hope that you understand that I'm only here because the guide said that you had a cure for this curse." Ranma said while sitting in an old house in the middle of the Amazon village. He paid no attention to the guards that were nervously watching him from the other side of the room. They wouldn't have been able to stop him if he wanted to leave.

"Of course." Kun Lon said as she rummaged through her books on the shelf while the boiling kettle could be heard in the kitchen. An older man came into the room and set the kettle and tea down on the table that Ranma was sitting at. Ranma's hair was peppered with white strands, while his face had permanent lines etched into it.

"I am curious about you. It isn't often that an outsider can come into our village shake our faith in our ways in less than fifteen minutes. I also sense that your story needs to be heard and told. A small price to pay for the cure of your curse." The elder sat down and started to pour herself some tea. Ranma prepared his own.

"You want to hear about my life? Okay…but I had better be cured when I leave here." Ranma's eyes held no malice, his voice carried no threat, but the message was clear.

"My story begins with a promise. My father promised his friend that their families would be joined in the marriage of their children. I was an only child. When I was six, I was taken on a ten-year training trip with my father; I believe we passed by here then as well, but nowhere near Jusenkyo. At the end of that trip, I was sixteen and introduced for the first time to my bride.

We fought at first, but that became a part of who we were together and soon enough we were married and expecting our first born at the age of seventeen. It was then that my father's sins came onto me. During the training trip, he had used me to secure food and lodgings, usually by promising that I would marry their daughters at some point in time in the future.

It was stressful, trying to raise a family, go to school, and deal with errant fiancés who wouldn't take no for an answer or refused to recognize that I was already married. What made it worse was that an old rival from before the trip came back to haunt my family and me. I should have taken him seriously when he threatened my happiness.

The situation persisted until after I had graduated college and my wife had our second child. We had our own dojo and the fiancés had settled down. Pop had a talent for finding the violent ones who happened to have equally violent admirers to be engaged to me. By that time I had at least five fiancés all trying to break my family apart.

They had tried everything from challenges to ambushes. It wasn't until my second born was kidnapped and held for ransom did I realize that something had to be done. My rival from before had become my friend and my family's friend. I trusted him to watch my firstborn and my wife while I retrieved our child. I never should have trusted him.

The fiancés had never worked together; we never thought they would, seeing as how the prize couldn't be shared. But they had put their differences aside to remove the one obstacle between them and my marrying one of them, my family. While I was off trying to find and rescue my youngest, the rest came for my wife and oldest. That bastard let them in and watched while my family was slaughtered.

I was able to find my youngest child. They never had any intention of letting them live. They didn't see my children as anything other than something in their way. They knew that as long as I had anything to tie me to my wife, then I would never let her go. I found his remains, dead since he had been taken.

My grief for my slain child turned to horror and more as I returned home only to discover the same fate had befallen my wife and first born." Ranma stopped talking to wipe his eyes and take a sip from the cup of tea.

"After burying my family, I swore vengeance. I didn't have to hunt them down, they came to me, proudly claiming the slaying of my family as necessary for 'our' happiness. All those women that claimed to love me destroyed anything in my that could ever love again. After all the fiancés involved were dead, I sought out my rival and killed him.

So you can see why I do not suffer threats lightly. I've had my patience burned out of me and any love gouged out. I am on a training trip across china in an attempt to forget, or at least get away from the memories." Ranma finished by swallowing the rest of his tea.

"I see. Now that you are done with your story, I expect that you will be expecting the cure." Kun Lon made no move to go and get anything.

"You're damn right I am." Ranma couldn't suppress the sudden yawn that over took him.

"I have to tell you, there is a cure to the curse of Jusenkyo, but it is a bit worse than the curse itself. The spell is only broken when the one afflicted dies. But don't worry. We are women of our word. We promised that we would cure you if you told us your story. You are being cured as we speak." Kun Lon fingered her untouched tea.

"ya…phooocking btichse." Ranma's mouth refused to work for him. Judging by the way things were spinning, he wasn't sitting up anymore. Kun Lon's voice could be heard through the pounding of his heart in his ears.

"Rejoin your family, seek them out in the next life and leave this one."

With those words, Ranma knew no more.


	3. Chapter 3

A different time part three

Standard disclaimer applies

Genma was a coward, but then again, at his age he could afford to be. Right now he was cowardly watching the Amazon village waiting to see a sign of his son. Genma had gone on this trip with his son because Ranma had insisted on it. After the funeral of Ranma's wife and kids, Genma found that he couldn't really say no.

This was because that Genma felt responsible for what had happened, not that he would ever let anybody know that, and would deny any accusation of it. Ranma had a way of intimidating him into it. The obituaries that morning and the look in Ranma's eyes had played a major role in his decision.

So Genma was out in the jungles of China as a Panda instead of comforting his old friend as a human over the loose of his daughter and their grandchildren.

So far nobody had picked up that Genma was the same Panda that had come with Ranma.

Genma watched as Ranma had entered the home of the shriveled old elder, he then watched as, some time later, they brought his unconscious form out again. Stupid boy, even after everything that had happened, he was still too trusting.

Genma didn't want to make a move just yet, but he knew that he had to move fast. He was only assuming that Ranma was unconscious, the other option was just unthinkable.

It was a surreal sight to see more of the wizened old monkeys come out and surround the boy, Ranma had turned thirty-five not long ago, but Genma was in the habit of calling him boy. What they did next shocked and confused Genma. They poured water over his cursed form and then shampooed his hair…Multiple times.

Genma didn't know what was going on and he didn't care. He only knew that he had to get his son from these women before something horrible happened. He watched as they groomed and washed Ranma's still form until they were satisfied, even going so far as to change his clothing to something that the other Amazons wore.

They finally finished and placed Ranma into a house. Genma noted the house and invoked his Umisuken technique, fading from detection. Both the Umisuken and the Yumisuken were martial arts techniques for breaking into and robbing houses. Ranma had taken both forms and made them his own, suited for combat. Genma had unsealed the techniques at Ranma's request to learn everything related to martial arts.

Genma snuck into the house and disabled everybody present, mere guards, and then checked his wayward son. He was still unconscious and still in his new girl form, but otherwise unharmed. Scooping her up he disappeared into the night.

The elder Kun Lon stepped into the house to check on the newest member of their village.

She knew that something was wrong the moment she stepped into the house and couldn't sense the neo girl's presence, and the pile of sleeping guards was also a big hint.

Five minutes after Genma stole back his son, the Amazon Village was at full alert.

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Genma didn't stop until he had put quite a few miles between them and the Amazon village. He stuck to as many animal paths as he could to throw off any trackers they might have had as well as any streams.

What amazed Genma was that Ranma had slept through it all. He was thankful that the curse had made Ranma so much smaller than what he usually was, Genma knew he wouldn't have been able to carry the man as far as he had been able to carry the girl.

Judging that they were far enough away, Genma set his bundles down and proceeded to wake his female son up.

It took a while but the Panda eventually got the red head to rouse.

"Ohhh…my head."

"Growf." Foolish boy, you should have been more careful.

Ranma looked at the panda as if in shock. "Wha…What's going on?" The fear in Ranma's voice sickened Genma.

"Grrr…" Boy! I raised you better than this! Now heat up some water so we can change. Genma tossed the bag at the girl's feet.

Something was definitely wrong with Ranma, and Genma couldn't quite put his finger on it. That wasn't accurate, he knew precisely what was bothering him, but his sense of denial was getting in the way of his sense of realization.

As it was, Ranma wordlessly and meekly did as the panda told her. Soon enough, the water was hot and Genma wasted no time in pouring it over himself reverting back to his true form. He didn't pause before pouring water over the stunned girl.

"Ahhh… It feels good to be human agaERK!"

Still sitting there dripping wet in steaming water, was Ranma's girl form with a scared and confused look on her face. Ranma hadn't changed.

"Who am I?" She asked quietly.

Author's notes.

I could have left it with Ranma dead, but with the overwhelming response I got for it, I decided to continue the story a little. I decided to look into what Rumiko Takahashi wrote about the Amazons and made some inferences from them.

One; they are all about strengthening their tribe.

Two; they aren't above using drugs.

Three; they can wipe memories

Four; they can lock a Jusenkyo curse.

Ranma just wiped out their tournament winner and had already had a Jusenkyo curse, all they needed to do was erase the first personality and replace it with something more friendly towards the amazons. Ain't brainwashing cool?

So to recap; Ranma never died, but the Amazons did erase his memories and lock his curse, effectively killing him. Genma stole Ranma back before they could reprogram Ranma into a loyal Amazon, leaving Ranma a blank slate.

Suggestions on where to take this will be welcome. No flames please, though


	4. Chapter 4

A Different Time part four

There is one thing that can be said about Genma that will always ring true no matter what else is said about the man, he was a bastard.

There were a lot of things about Genma that got overlooked by that one glaring character flaw. His love for his family, his absolute belief in family honor being more important than his own, and his devotion to his son. While there were many instances of Genma leaving Ranma to take some blame or the fall for one of his schemes that fell through, Genma had honestly done everything since the day his son was born for the boy. Genma never once abandoned his son if he thought that he couldn't handle it on his own.

Genma was old. While the panda form was in the prime of its life, Genma had long since past his own prime. He hadn't aged as well as he liked to think, much of his bulk had withered away from time and his wife's tender care. Genma wasn't soft by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't fool himself into thinking that he could actually fight full on and be able to move in the morning.

Genma had come with Ranma at his son's request. After the death of his grandchildren, Genma had nothing to live for but his son. So with little fanfare, Genma left his still grieving wife to be cared for by his best friend and former in law, Soun. Genma recognized where his wife would do the most good. Soun's own pain would draw her out of her own pain and the two would help each other heal.

Genma knew that something might grow between the two of them when he sent his wife to his best friend, but then again the look in Ranma's eyes had said that he wouldn't survive the trip, so Genma did what he did to comfort two of the most important people in his life while he followed his son into martial arts oblivion.

Genma had prepared himself for Ranma's death, ever since Ranma started to either challenged or insulted every dojo, shrine, and champion between here and Nerima, Genma knew that Ranma had a deathwish. Ranma never held back in his fights except that he never killed a challenger unless they threatened him.

The man that Genma had raised and seen married and had grown to fear was gone, all that was left was a young slip of a girl with a confused look in her eyes. Nodoka was going to kill him.

Another thing about Genma that was well known to those who knew him was that he was an accomplished bull shitter. He could weave a story of woe and sadness in a blink of an eye that was as believable as the truth as long as nothing like evidence ever presented itself for inspection.

Genma was stunned at the lack of change in his son's body as the curse refused to work like it was supposed to. He almost thought that he had grabbed the wrong girl but a few things made him discard that thought. The girl wore the same clothes and had on the same necklace that Ranma had worn since the funeral.

The necklace had a locket and his late wife's wedding band on it, as well as Ranma's after the curse. Genma remembered the thief that had tried to take it from Ranma one night after their journey began. Tokyo were still blaming monsters for that body.

No, Ranma would never let anybody touch it.

"Who am I?" The girl's soft voice came out again.

Sighing, Genma decided that the truth wouldn't work. They couldn't risk going back to the Amazons for anything.

"You are my grandchild. Your name is Ranma, after your father."

"Ranma? Wild horse?"

"That was your father's name, I think you are more of a wild flower. We can't stay here though, those who killed your father, my son, are still looking for us and we can't let them catch us."

"Okay." Ranma stood up and noticed the locket. Opening it, she saw two small photo's, one of Ranma as a guy and his wife.

"Those are your parents, child. They are both dead. Now come we must hurry before the Amazons catch us." Ranma felt a strong attachment to the locket, rings and pictures, so she accepted that those were her parents.

They ran. They ran for Japan and away from the Amazons. During their run, Genma thought his story out further, and asked Ranma questions when they rested or felt safe enough to talk.

"Do you remember anything, Ranma?"

"No, nothing since the other day when you woke me up."

"Do you want me to tell you what happened?"

"Please."

"You, your father, and myself were on a training trip when we encountered the Amazons. They ended up killing your father and erasing your mind, I think to have you join them. I didn't know what they were doing but I couldn't just leave my granddaughter with them."

"What were we training in?"

"Martial arts. Do you remember any of it?"

"I don't know. How good was I?"

"You were very good. Almost as good as your father, once we get home, we'll see if what those Amazons did to you has affected your skills."

A couple of days later, the first group of Amazons caught up with Genma and Ranma. There were three of them, a tracker and two warriors. Genma and Ranma tried running but the three of them were soon trapped.

Genma tried to protect Ranma from the Amazons but they were just younger and stronger than he was. Their orders were to return with the girl, nothing was said of old men, so they decided to kill Genma. Ranma saw what they were planning on doing to her Grandfather and suddenly her body remembered.

There are times when a person goes into a trance and does something without thinking about what they are doing. Ranma's vision became cloudy, like she was looking through some foggy lens and she couldn't understand what she was seeing. She didn't think of anything until the fog cleared and she could see her grandfather off to the side unharmed while the bodies of three Amazons littered the grounds around her.

Ranma rushed her grandfather and hugged him like she was afraid he was going to go away, like her parents before. This was something that only his real grandchildren had done before, but they had never cried like Ranma was now. It broke his heart to see his 'Granddaughter' like that.

Only one Amazon survived the encounter and she never did walk right after that.

Genma decided to start to retrain his granddaughter in Anything goes style as they made their way back to Japan. Ranma only had to be shown something once before 'remembering' it.

By the time they made it back to Japan, Ranma was again at the level she was at when they reached the Amazon village, but her personality as a man had been erased and had been replaced with a tomboyish girl. Genma had never raised a girl before, so he had no idea where to start, so he had treated her like a boy without the 'girls are weak' speeches. It was hard to make that argument sound good when they were being chased by girls.

They rode a taxi to the Tendo Dojo, Ranma fell asleep on the way there, being in Japan again made her relax and feel safe again. She was nestled against Genma as she slumbered.

When Ranma awoke, she wasn't in the taxi, she was in a bed in a strange house that seemed more familiar than not. Genma was nowhere to be found, but raised voices could be heard in another part of the house.

She found the room the voices were coming from and opened the screen so she could look in. Once the door was opened the voices stopped and Ranma sensed the movement just before the screen was thrust open and Ranma was enfolded in the arms of an elderly lady who cried out "Ranma!" like a sob.


	5. Chapter 5

A different time. By Jwleonard

Nabiki hated Ranma. It wasn't something that she could rationalize. Ever since the funeral of her sister, Nabiki had resented the way that Ranma just ran away to train.

Nabiki was a career woman, after having been passed up as a fiancé by Ranma, she devoted her life to her goals. Being a successful business woman.

However, she had received a call not two days ago saying that Genma had returned and something had happened to Ranma.

As much as Nabiki resented him, he was still family. So she dropped everything, or at least put everything on hold, and came back home. Something she had avoided since that day.

Nabiki didn't think that anything was wrong when she pulled up to the gates of her old family home. She would have sold the property a long time ago, but her sister and Ranma had inherited the property with their marriage and Ranma had decided to let Soun stay there for the sake of family.

Nodoka had moved in after the funeral and Ranma ran off with his father to 'train'.

Nabiki was a little surprised when a young teenaged girl opened the door and welcomed her like a stranger to her old home.

"You must be Nabiki. Grandmother said that you were coming."

"Grandmother?"

"Come with me please." The girl said before turning on her heel and retreating into the house.

"Now hold on, just who are you." Nabiki followed, but was not amused by this stranger in her father's old house.

"Nabiki, leave her alone and come here." Soun's voice held something in it that had been missing since his wife died so many years ago, authority.

"Go see to your Grandfather while we speak with Nabiki, dear." Nodoka's voice was firm, and the girl bowed gracefully out before going towards the backyard.

"Nabiki, something terrible has happened to Ranma. Something unbelievable, but true." Soun began.

"You know how ever since your sister and her children were killed, Ranma has been…"

"Irresponsible?" Nabiki interjected.

Both Nodoka and Soun gave her pained, hard looks that quickly softened into resignation.

"I'll admit that my son has been dealing with the loss of his family in a way that many would have said was unwise." Nodoka said wearily.

"He didn't even attend their funeral! He just left after they were killed, he disappeared until after the funeral and so did all those fluzzies that were responsible for putting my sister in the ground!"

"Nabiki, there are things that you don't know about those days that you are unaware of, things that we feel you should know now."

"You damn well better and while you're at it, tell me about that girl who answered the door and why she called you her grandmother! She's Ranma's isn't she? I knew he was a bastard but to cheat on Slap" Nabiki's face stung from where Nodoka had struck her.

"I will not tolerate you to judge my son before you have all the facts young lady. My son did run away after the murder of his wife and children, and he did run to those responsible, but not as a grateful lover, but as an avenging angel."

"All Ranma knew was that his family was dead and the fiancés were responsible. To hear him tell it after he came to me, he found the bodies after being chased around the area by one of the crazier fiancés, the one with a thing for chemicals. She was merely a diversion so the others could ambush their competition."

When Ranma caught up with them, he found them congratulating each other before breaking out into a fight over who would then have him, now that your sister was out of the way. Ranma fell upon them in a rage, using everything thing he had ever learned to quickly kill them with no mercy.

That is why Ranma and his other fiancés disappeared before the funeral, he killed them in a blind rage for killing his family. Something the police would not understand, if they ever learned the truth, Ranma would be arrested for murder. He would not survive the courts or jail."

"Why were we not told this to begin with?" Nabiki demanded.

"Because Ranma asked us not to tell anybody unless he died."

"You mean…Ranma got himself killed in China?"

"It is more complicated than that, but yes, in essence, the man that married your sister is no longer among us."

"You know how much I don't like beating around the bush, is he or is he not dead?" The growl in Nabiki's voice matched her expression.

"No, he is not dead…but he is no longer Ranma either."

"What are you trying to say?"

"While in China, Ranma and Genma came across a training ground that was cursed. They left that place cursed as well. They then encountered a village of Amazons who did something to Ranma after he had offended them. They did something to the curse and something to his mind, destroying the man he was and creating a new person with no memories."

"Curse? You're joking."

"You've seen Ranma fight before, you know his style. Let us go outside and watch my granddaughter as she exercises." Nodoka stood and walked towards the back yard. Nabiki followed.

The sight that greeted her was the young girl that had opened the door for her fighting Old man Genma in Ranma's style. Lot's of kicks and high speed punches in mid air and beyond. The girl had changed out of the kimono and was now wearing a gi. The girl's skill was well beyond her years

"I don't understand." Nabiki said weakly as she realized that the girl was doing things that only Ranma had done.

"The curse changed his body, but he was able to change back when he wanted, but the Amazons in China made it so he couldn't change back and then they erased him, leaving her. They killed my son to create this girl. They left her with her skills, but all her memories and everything that made Ranma Ranma is gone."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"We're too old to care for another child, even if she is sixteen. We cannot bear what she represents to us. She has come to stand for the death of my child, and though I try to see the good in this and the good my husband did in returning my child to me no matter what his condition, I cannot bear to remain near this child."

"We are asking you to care for her as your own child. It was something that Ranma and your sister had worked into their wills that if something happened to them that you would care for their children as you would your own. Genma has convinced her that she is Ranma and your sister's daughter. We have done nothing to change that story."

"What is her name?"

"Ranma; the wild orchid."

"She has no memories whatsoever?"

"None."

"What are you going to do if I don't take her."

"Nabiki, me and my husband would like to mourn the loss of our son. With her here, it is like salt in the wound. We have to arrange a funeral without a body and create a person where there was none before, things that we need your help with. Please care for her as you did Ranma's children. She is still very impressionable, give her something other than fighting to live for. I'm afraid that is all we can offer her." Nodoka's voice was soft enough so that only Nabiki could hear her.

It was at this point that Genma fell into the kio pond. The panda that emerged from the water confirmed everything for Nabiki.

"It's all true." Nabiki breathed. "I'll do it. Ranma can move in with me and I'll take care of her and the funeral, just plan it and I'll take care of the rest."


End file.
